Staple-machine



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. I

(No Model.)

G; DOOLITTLE.

STAPLE MACHINE.

Patented Oct. 26, 1886 fimfigiz N. PETERS. Phntoiilhognphzr, Washington.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsF-Sheet 2.

G. DOOL ITTLE.

STAPLE MACHINE.

No. 351,628. Patented 0013.26, 1886.

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die oyejo owze izpw N PETERS. Pholoiilhogmphar. Washington. D C,

UNITED STATES PA T Clarice.

GEORGE DOOL'ITTLE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THEPENINSULAR NOVELTY COMPANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

STAPLE-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,628, dated October26, 1886.

Application tiled March '27, 1886. Serial No. 196.782. (No model.)

' To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE DOOLITTLE, of Bridgeport, county ofFairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improvement inStaple-Machincs,of which the following description, in connection withthe accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on thedrawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object toimprove .the construction ofmachines for the manucurved or oval in cross-section; also, in a diehaving a concaved recess, two shoulders, and

side walls leading from said shoulders,a former having a nose andshoulders,aformer-carrier, and means to reciprocate or operate saidcarrier automatically, combined with a guide for the wire, a cutter tosever thewire in the said guide, and feed mechanism to move the wireintermittingly, substantially as will be described.

. Other features of my invention will be hereinafter described, andpointed out in the I claims.

Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a stapleforming machine constructed inaccordance with my invention; Fig. 1, a partial section to show one ofthe cams on the secondary shaft; Fig. 2, a transverse section on line wm, Fig. 1, it showing clearly the cutter and formingdie; Fig. 3, alongitudinal section on line a? x of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a detail View ofthe cutter; Fig. 5, a detail to be referred to, it showing in plan viewthe die,t-he former,and the notched guide through which the wire passes,the guide being notched to enable the cutter to cut the Wire. Fig. 6showsan elevation and section of a staple made on the machine shown inthe drawings; Fig. 7, aface view of the die; and

I Fig. 8, face view of the former, both being enlarged.

The bed-plate A of the machine, supported on legs A, has suitablebearings for the main shaft A and the secondary shaft A the said shaftsbeing geared together by the gears 01. a". The shaft A' has attached toit cam-hubs aflf, and h, and the shaft A has cams k, e, and m.

In the machine herein to be described the wire or strip of metal to bemade into staples is taken from a suitable reel or spool (not shown) andled between usual straighteningrolls, a, and passed intoand through aguide, a, made (see Fig.2) as a tube, which is screwthreaded externally,and thus made adj ust-able horizontally to serve the additional purposeof a stop for the feed-carriage b,adapted to slide in ways in aplate,b,attached to the bed-plate, the said carriage being moved forwardand backward by a lever, a having its fulcrum a in a'bearing, a", thestem or foot of which (not shown) is fitted loosely into ahole in thebed.-

plate A. The lever a has at one end a roll,

2,which is acted upon by the (am a aspri'ng, 1), workingantagonistically to the cam, the forward end of the said leverhaving asocketpiece, b provided with a screw threaded shank, b, which, extendedthrough the lever (47, has a nut, if, applied to it. The stud b on thefeed-carriage b is provided with a hole, b, for the passage of the wire,and about this stud are placed two washers, b b, between which the wirealso passes, the said stud above the said washers being surrounded bythe socket-piece b, which latter has a straight vertical movement on thesaid stud by reason of the shape of the cam a so as to cause the saidwashers to intermittingly clamp the said wire, hold it firmly when thewire is to be fed forward,and release it when the feed-carriage is to hemoved backward.

The wire fed by the feeding devices described, or by any otherwell-known wire-feeding device,is passed through a guide,cl", (shownbest in Figs. 2 and 5,) the said guide being notched at one side, as at3, for a depth sufficient to intersect the wire-passage in the guide,said notch permitting the wire-cutter d (see Figs. 2, 3, and 4) todescend into the said notch and sever the wire, the cutting-edge of thewire cutter being shaped substantially as ICC shown in Fig. 4, so thatwhen severing the wire a V-shaped portion is cut from the wire, leavingoppositely-beveled ends to constitute points for two staples.

The wire-cutter is attached to a plate, J, by a screw, d, the platebeing adjustably secured by screw (1' to a plunger, d", fitted to slidevertically in a guidebloek, 6*. This plunger d is moved vertically bythe lever c, pivoted at e on a suitable upright, the said lever beingacted upon by the cum 0, the spring 6 keep ing the said lever pressed incontact with the said cam.

The die h-a block of steel cut out, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 7, toform arecess to conform in shape to the shape of the curve of the stapleor fastening to be made, (see Fig. 6) has its shank h extended throughthe guide 0*.

Referring to Fig 5, it will be seen that this die has a substantiallysemicircular recess, a, and next it, at each side, shoulders 215 andvertical walls a n, the recess a" shaping the staple at 11 and theshoulders n causing the shaping of the shoulders 21 while-the verticalwalls f determine the shape of the legs a The face of the die 71" (seeFig. 7) is grooved horizontally at 71", the bottom of the said groovebeing substantially circular, so as to preserve the round shape of thewire used at the top of the crown of the staple, the inner side of thecrown, especially below the portion n-",being also kept round byproviding the nose a of the former fwith a groove, it, (see Fig. 8,) thebottom of the said groove being rounded. This leaves both the upper andlower side of the part 16* of the staple rounded, as shown in thesection Fig. 6.

The former f referred to is attached by screw f to a carrier, f, fittedto slide in a carriage, f-', adapted to slide horizontally between\i'zlysj""j", screwed to the bed-plate A. The carriage f 2 has at oneend a roller, 8, which is normally kept pressed toward or against thecam h by the spring in, and said carriage supports a bent finger, f,secured to it by screws 12, said finger being slotted to permit theformerf to pass through it.

The carrier f is held within the carriage by plates 13 14, the one 13acting as a back-stop for the carrier when moved backward by the lever khaving its fulcrum at 7c, and slotted at one end to embrace a stud, It,on the carrier f, the said lever being acted upon by the cam Ir.

The hollow shank of the die receives within it a clearer, m shaped asbest shown in Fig. 3, its inner end being reduced and surrounded by aspiral spring, m", which normally keeps the clearer retracted from theface of the die, the latter having a central hole, 15. hen a staple isto be discharged from the die, the clearer is pushed forward by the rodm jointed to a lever, m, pivoted at m", and acted upon by the cam m, aspring, a, keeping the said lever against the said cam.

In operation the wire is fedforward by the feed mechanism into thenotched guide d, and when in such position the cutter d is thrown down,so as to enter the notch 3 of the said guide and sever the wire therein.As soon as the wire is cut the cam h on the shaft A hits the roller 8and moves the carriagef forward, so that the bent finger f presses thecut strip of wire against the face of the die at the edges of the sidewalls, a, the said bent finger holding the ends of the wire againstthesaid edges, while the former f, carried forward by the camf, actingon the roller f on the carrier f, presses the wire into the recess ofthe said die h"; to form the staple shown in Fig. 6, the groove h of thedie and the groove a in the nose of the former permitting the wire toretain its rounded or oval form, as shown in said figure. After the saidstaple has been formed the carrier f is moved backward by the lever 7t,acted upon by the cam Ir, and as the carrier is thus moved the cam in onthe secondary shaft acts on the lever m" to move the clearer m forwardto dislodge the staple.

I clain1 1. In astaple-forniing machine, the diehaving a concavedrecess, two shoulders, and side walls leading from said shoulders, andprovided with a rounded groove, combined with a former having a nose andshoulders, and with a former-carrier and means to reciprocate or operatesaid carrier automatically, said nose having a rounded groove, saidgrooves enabling the outer face of the staple and the inner or underside of the crown thereof to be made curved or oval in cross-section,substantially asdescribed.

2. In a staple-forming machine, a die having a concaved recess, twoshoulders, and side walls leading from said shoulders, a former having anose and shoulders, a former-carrier, and means to reciprocate oroperate said carrier automatically, combined with a guide for the wire,a cutter to sever the wire in the said guide, and feed mechanism to movethe wire interniittingl y, substantially as described.

3. In a staple forming machine, feeding mechanism,substantially asdescribed, to grasp and move the wire intermittingly, awire-guidenotched at its side, and a substantially V- shaped cutter to sever thesaid wire and oppositely bevel the adjacent ends, combined with a dieand a former, substantially as described, to produce from the severedpieces of wire a shapesubstantiall y such as shown.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in thepresence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE DOOL'LTTLE.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, J. H. CHURCHILL.

